For 15 years, grieving dad has fought to add child bereavement to the Family Medical Leave Act

WBUR | By Here & Now Newsroom

Published May 28, 2026 at 9:00 AM PDT

Barry Kluger and his daughter Erica, who died in a car crash at age 18. (Courtesy: Barry Kluger)

In 2001, Barry Kluger lost his 18-year-old daughter Erica in a tragic car accident. And for the last 15 years, he’s been on a quest to expand the Family Medical Leave Act to include protected leave to grieve the loss of a child.

As he tells Here & Now‘s Robin Young, three days is the average time off granted to American workers who’ve lost a child. It’s barely enough time to attend a funeral, let alone deal with all the bureaucracy, mental anguish and logistics that follow.

Since 2011, the bipartisan Farley-Kluger Act (now the Sarah Grace-Farley-Kluger-Barklage Act) has been introduced in Congress nine times, most recently on the 25th anniversary of Erica’s death on April 6.

Kluger joins Young to talk about the act and why he believes it would provide a critical support to American families.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.